2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The penultimate preliminary session from the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo will feature the 400 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 IM, with the 400 free relays being added to the schedule for finals.

Some of the highlights today include Japan’s Rikako Ikee and American Kelsi Dahlia going head-to-head in the women’s 100 fly, Americans Katie Ledecky (400 free), Caeleb Dressel(100 fly) and Chase Kalisz (200 IM) competing in (one of) the events in which they are the reigning World Champion, and Japan’s Yui Ohashi leading a stacked field in the women’s 200 IM.

Defending champion Katie Ledecky cruised to the top seed in the women’s 400 free with a win in the third and final heat, clocking a time of 4:02.57. Her American teammate Leah Smith (4:04.91) took 2nd in the heat and ends up in that position overall heading to tonight’s A-final.

Ariarne Titmus, the 2nd fastest woman in the world this year behind Ledecky, easily won heat 2 in 4:06.47 for the 3rd seed, and her teammate Madeleine Gough (4:09.09) beat out Kiah Melverton (4:10.07) for the 2nd Aussie spot in the A-final.

Emily Overholt of Canada had a big performance from heat 1 to qualify 5th into the final, clocking 4:10.58 for her fastest swim in over three years. American Ally McHugh improved her previous personal best of 4:11.32 all the way down to 4:08.72 and will swim the B-final along with Katie Drabot tonight.

Zane Grothe produced the 2nd-fastest swim of his career (and fastest this year) to claim the top seed in the men’s 400 freestyle, followed closely by Aussie Jack McLoughlin who was just 0.2 off his best from the Commonwealth Games.

Rikako Ikee popped off a new Pan Pac meet record from heat 1 to take the top seed in the women’s 100 fly in 56.90, breaking Jessicah Schipper‘s 2006 mark of 57.30. Ikee sits atop the world rankings (tied with Sarah Sjostrom) this year with a 56.23.

Mallory Comerford (58.23) snagged the second U.S. A-final spot over Katie McLaughlin (58.34). Behind Dahlia, McLaughlin is in position to qualify for the 2019 World Championships in this event, provided either Comerford or Regan Smith don’t beat her 57.51 time from Nationals in the final.

Michael Andrew had a solid swim to tie with Irvine in 4th overall, but will be relegated to the B-final along with Zach Harting. The A-final will feature two Americans, two Australians, two Brazilians and two Japanese men.

Miho Teramura of Japan was the only swimmer sub-2:10 in the women’s 200 IM prelims, breaking the 2:09.93 meet record in a time of 2:09.86. Teramura was previously ranked 8th in the world with her 2:10.21 from the Japan Swim, but moves to 6th with this swim. Her teammate Yui Ohashi qualified 3rd overall.

Both Sydney Pickrem and Ella Eastin swam their first races of the competition here, and both had stellar performances. Pickrem took 2nd in 2:10.07, just off her season-best of 2:09.92, and Eastin swam a personal best for 4th and the top American spot in 2:10.25. Eastin had scratched her earlier events as she’s been dealing with mono over the past month.

World #1 Chase Kalisz was dominant through 150 metres in the final heat of the men’s 200 IM, cruising home to touch in a time 1:57.07 for the top seed heading into the final. Kalisz leads the world rankings with his 1:55.73 from U.S. Nationals.

Kosuke Hagino, who sits 2nd in the world ranks at 1:56.37, won the heat prior to Kalisz in 1:57.60 for the #2 seed in what should be an exciting rematch from last summer where they went 1-2 at the World Championships.

Abrahm Devine easily claimed the 2nd U.S. spot in the A-final in 1:58.45, and Austrlian Clyde Lewis was just a few tenths off his season-best for 4th in 1:58.47. Daiya Seto, ranked 5th in the world, edged teammate Hiromasa Fujimori by 0.28 for the second Japanese spot in the A-final.

Jay Litherland was the only other American to put up a time (1:59.91) after Andrew Seliskar was DQed for a non-simultaneous touch on breaststroke and Dressel didn’t show.

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Super excited about Michael Andrew’s 100 fly. Should be a great day for the US!

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3 months ago

kevin

Americans have been disappointing most of them swimming slower than the trials

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3 months ago

ERVINFORTHEWIN

that does not stop them from learning a few things or 2 .

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3 months ago

guy

They are also prob still jet lagged….

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3 months ago

Finn

It’s called the taper cycle, swimming fast twice in 2 weeks is almost unheard of in the sport

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3 months ago

Superfan

I believe they only traveled a few days ago. Bad decision on USA swimming’s part. They probably are very tired and haven’t adjusted. It makes sense because finals would be middle of the night for them. And prelims is past dinner time for them also.

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3 months ago

Love to Swim

Basically just like all other countries when they traveled to international meets.

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3 months ago

Roch

Hoping the Americans have a better day today. Fingers crossed for Eastin in the IM especially.

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3 months ago

anonymous

She made the A final.

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3 months ago

ERVINFORTHEWIN

And we got the 400 free relay later on inFinals !!! Oh yeah , would be another interesting jaw dropping suspense day again in Tokyo

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3 months ago

Rafael

Female will be better Brazil looks like to not be delivering (Marco Antônio jr) and Australia lacks the firepower

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3 months ago

ERVINFORTHEWIN

Since the Aussies are in very good shape , i would certainly see them as the favorites right now for both 400 free relays – that will bring on a serious battle and thats what we love to watch . I truly enjoyed their actual firepower so far .

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3 months ago

Robbos

I would say 4×100 men’s the US are still favourites, I agree, the Aussies have the firepower, they lack the depth & firepower of the US.

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3 months ago

ERVINFORTHEWIN

would love to see the Us put down serious relays today – the depth is there for sure !! waiting to see that unfold

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3 months ago

Troy

Pretty much impossible to have the depth the US has when they have 14 times the population.

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3 months ago

Cate

Yeah, all those Indians we see in the pool.

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3 months ago

dfgdfgg

India and China are different. They lack the infrastructure.

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3 months ago

Cobalt

GREAT point!

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3 months ago

Cobalt

Yes, so wonderful to see the Australians swimming so well. Australia has such passion for swimming…I wish the sport was as important in the US as it is there. In Australia they have swim class for kids at school…that’s amazing.

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3 months ago

ERVINFORTHEWIN

dont worry , they have the NCAA system and its really important in Usa

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3 months ago

Laps

Most Australians live in coastal cities within an hour or two of beaches and outdoor sports/beach culture are very popular. In my primary school the entire class had two 1 hour swim lessons every week for 2 months at the local pool every year and I’d say about a quarter of the class was enrolled in swimming lessons during the summer. My high school had a pool, which is uncommon for a high school in Aus, so we still had classes in high school as well. This was in the 90s/00s so things may have changed since then. Do Americans not have any swim classes in school? Is it due to a lack of access to pools or a lack… Read more »

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3 months ago

About James Sutherland

James is currently a university swimmer for the Laurentian Voyageurs in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He is studying economics. Along with swimming, he also loves hockey. He's in his 14th season as a competitive swimmer.
Best Times - SCM (LCM)
50 FR - 24.56 (25.12)
100 FR - 53.58 (56.70)
200 FR - 1:56.07 (2:04.29)
1500 …